The Unaided Path
by MaelstromBankai
Summary: Do you know what it means to be strong? It means being able to carry your burdens and struggles by yourself. Do not rely on others. Use them, if you need to, but stand on your own power. The world is a cruel place, one which is harsh to those who are weak. Take pride in your strength, for you are special. Live your life by your own power, my little Maelstrom.
**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!**

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

Taking a glance round the local dining establishment, a young woman carefully kept her bright, nearly glowing, amber eyes at the pair of men conversing a few tables away from her. She took a sip of her drink, a relaxing cup of herbal tea, and allowed herself a moment to enjoy the sensation. After all, it wouldn't be long until her companion returned with the information she needed.

As she made another sweep of the establishment, amusement welled up inside her at the glances she caught the young adolescents giving her from across the room. It was so pathetically adorable how vulnerable the minds of men were towards the pleasure of flesh. Her amusement rose further when she noted, from the corner of her eyes, two boys whispering to each other and failing to discretely gesture at her.

Glancing back at the men, she casually brushed away the lock of ashen-black wavy hair. They hadn't made any other move, but she was confident that everything would work out.

Movement from the pair she had been watching broke her thoughts, but her smile widened slightly as she noted her companion making his way towards her. Catching his crimson eyes, she quirked a brow for information. He gave a short, barely noticeable nod in her direction, and satisfaction resonated within her.

He stood taller than most people his age, which helped craft the illusion of him being older than he actually was. His dark hair, several shades darker than hers, was chin-length that parted to frame the sides of his face, with bangs long enough to cover most of his right eye and face. His face was in its usual blank and emotionless state, and she felt a twinge of anticipation in her.

When he made his way towards her, she sent him her usual smile and gestured at the empty seat. "What did you find out?"

He spared her a glance as he took the seat. "The Maiden did make her way past this town; according to the informant, she just left slightly under half an hour ago," he reported, clinically looking through the catalogue that was on their table. "She had a guardian watching over her, a man who's known as Qrow Branwen," She carefully watched for any reaction, but he continued to report his findings with no change in expression to that name, "and they both headed in the direction of a small town settled in the swamps of Mistral."

She pursed her lips as she sipped some more of her tea. "Hiding a Maiden in the home of all sorts of scum? That seems almost cliché, but they may be doing so just to lead us on a wild goose chase." She leaned back into her chair, staring directly into her companion's eyes.

"Knowing Qrow, that's exactly why he's doing that. It's become the norm for people to hide valuable things within the dirt, rather than among other less valued treasures. If we don't act soon, this chase will go on for a significant amount of time." He spoke his thoughts as he browsed through the various items available.

' _Time which you can't afford to waste.'_ She could hear those unsaid words he had implied, and she knew he was right. While she didn't need to secure the Fall Maiden this soon, she knew that she might never get another opportunity like this again, and she was never one to ignore an opportunity when it made itself available to her.

There was a lull in their conversation as she took in everything that had been said. She knew of Qrow Branwen, and while she was confident that they would be able to deal with a Huntsman of that caliber, she didn't want to play her cards too soon. A whisper of a thought surfaced, presenting the image of her trump card fighting the Huntsman, but she dismissed it just as easily as it had appeared; while it would be within his capabilities to hold off the Huntsman long enough for her and her newest recruit to deal with the Maiden, that would give him away to Qrow Branwen the instant they traded blows.

"We'll have to separate them," she decided, idly stirring her tea despite the fact that she had essentially finished her serving. He gave no indication that he had heard her, but she knew he was always listening when she spoke. "Have Neopolitan take care of the Huntsman; with her Semblance, she's the most suited member to dealing with him." Emerald had come to mind as an option, but Neopolitan's abilities were greater at deceiving and manipulating than Emerald's; plus, while Emerald was strong for one with no real training, Neopolitan had been travelling with the young man before her for three years. There was no reason to put a fresh recruit against a skilled Huntsman, especially one such as Emerald.

He looked up from his reading and slipped out his Scroll. Unlocking the device, he quickly typed a short text message to the girl she had just spoken about. Her smile widened further as satisfaction and pride flared brightly in her.

Smart enough to read between the lines, performing his tasks quickly and efficiently, strong enough to be her special trump card, and such a great asset to _her_. He _**belonged**_ to her, and the fact sent a pleasurable feeling through her.

It was one thing to dream about being powerful and in control, it was another to experience it with such a capable and deadly individual as the young man seated before her.

The Scroll in his hand vibrated, and he nodded at her. "Neo is already ready to be deployed, and will be arriving as soon as she can." Glancing at the outdoors, he narrowed his eyes. Following his sight, she found herself looking at a large raven that was perched on a nearby branch.

Turning back to him, she just barely managed to catch sight of his eyes changing; it was a split second, but she was sure she had seen some kind of design in his eyes. _'Interesting…'_ So, he was still hiding some of his abilities from her…an idea came to mind, one that would allow her to kill two birds with one stone.

"Good. Brief her when she arrives about her role, then you and I will head out for the Maiden." She smiled pleasantly at the intense look he fired at her. Seems he hadn't expected her to be so curious about the extent of his skills. "Until then, let us enjoy a relaxing meal as we make our plan of attack."

He finally set the catalogue down and leaned towards her. "Planning out every possible action is a waste of time. We already have an estimate of the Maiden's power and how she fights; an outline is all I'll need."

She leaned forward as well, her smirk exuding sultry smugness. "My, you don't think I'll be of any use in the fight?"

He flicked his eyes to her hands, then back to her gaze, "You're assuming I'm going to be fighting her at all." He reached out and grasped her hands, which initially surprised her until she caught sight of a few people glancing in their direction. Understanding what he was doing, she allowed him to caress and intertwine their fingers together. "You need her alive until her power is extracted," He directed her fingers to his palm, "therefore there is no need to fight her…you just need her unable to escape." Her eyes widened as she _felt_ something hard and sharp poke through his flesh.

She stared, fascination evident in her eyes as she watched his flesh split and tear as what appeared to be a sharpened bone was pushed out of his body by some unseen force. With their seating position, as well as the fact that they were leaning towards one another, the other people would simply see a couple having an intimate conversation.

"I don't need to fight her…all I need is one good shot to cut off all feeling from her legs."

* * *

A young woman hummed to herself as she strolled through the quant town her partner had instructed her to arrive at. She wore a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, and gray boots with very high heels. Under her jacket was a black corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom exposing her hips. A multitude of necklaces hung haphazardly around her neck. Her mismatched eyes glanced from one spot to another, taking in every bit of the area as she could, and her lips stretched into a smile when she finally caught sight of the two people she had come searching for.

They were seated out in the open, on one of the public benches near a bakery, and looked like an intimate couple having a tranquil moment to themselves. Anyone who laid eyes on them would smile at the sight of the dark-haired woman resting her head against the handsome young man, who was smiling a content smile as he took in the atmosphere of the setting sun.

Her eyes flashed, the brown and pink colors switching from one to the other, and her smile took on a fiercer nature. It was brief, no longer than a moment, and the playful smirk soon returned to her features.

Walking up to them, catching the attention of her partner and the young woman, she gave both of them a cheeky little wave and presented her Scroll to the young man. Written on the screen was _"I'm ready to go whenever you want, Naruto."_

Simple and concise, just as they both preferred things to be.

The young woman lifted her head, revealing bright amber eyes, and Neo finally remembered her name. Cinder Fall, the person Naruto had been talking about the last time they had spent a day with each other. "It's good to see you again, Neopolitan. I have an assignment that needs to be done soon, and you are the only one capable of succeeding at this task."

Neo glanced at her partner, who had the same content expression on his face. She turned her attention back to Cinder, nodding once in agreement. She knew her partner well enough to go along with whatever this woman wanted them to do. They both knew that Neo was doing this solely because her partner had requested her aid, but Neo didn't mind the practiced gratitude from the older woman.

Cinder smirked. Pulling out her Scroll, she opened a picture of a man and Neo's gaze turned hard as _**that man's**_ face was displayed on the device. She stared angrily at the picture as Cinder explained her job, "I need you to lure this man away from this girl," she minimized the picture of the man and pulled up a different picture, showing _**that man**_ with a girl walking beside him, "as soon as you can. Naruto and I will be targeting the girl, his charge, so lure him as far away as you can."

Neo nodded in agreement once again, which earned her a raised brow from Cinder. She had initially believed that the shorter woman was just silent, but it seemed like Neopolitan couldn't speak. It would certainly explain the text message she had shown to Naruto before.

"Neo," Both women glanced at him as he spoke, somewhat surprised he had broken his silence, "play with him as much as you want to."

Cinder looked between the two of them. Judging by the wicked elation that twisted Neopolitan's face, there was a hidden meaning behind the word 'play', which she was sure involved lots of bodily pain to whoever was the girl's target.

Naruto rose to his feet, regarding Cinder with his usual emotionless face. With the people gone, there was no need for his mask of emotions. "Neo and I have something to discuss. We'll meet with you at the outskirts of the town in ten minutes."

Cinder watched as they left, Neo following slightly slower than him, and her smile widened. These moments of assertion from him were rare, and while it did encourage her to keep her eyes on him, they allowed her a better understanding of what kind of person he was…which she would use to further secure her hold of him.

Rising to her feet, she languidly began to make her way towards the designated meeting point.

* * *

Amber sighed to herself as she walked up the stairs of the hotel she and her guardian had stopped at. She had a light brown complexion, with short, straight brown hair. A beauty mark could barely be seen below her left eye. She wore a long, green hooded cloak on top of an off-white blouse with a brown vest, corset and pants. She also had a gold bracer on her left arm, two gold bracelets on her right wrist and a pair of golden armored boots. A golden pauldron was on her right shoulder as well as a shoulder strap with some pouches slung diagonally across her body.

While she had a lot of respect for the Huntsman, as his skills were exemplary and his truthful nature made him more comfortable to be around, she still wondered how he could so haphazardly send her to the room they had secured while he approached a woman they had seen making eyes at him.

She shook her head as she entered the room, wondering just why men were so easily lured by the temptation of lust. Discarding the backpack she had next to the closest chair, she let out a sigh of relief; they had been travelling for most of the day, and she was just relieved to have a place to sleep on a real bed. They would have arrived much later than now, but the news of a White Fang attack on a nearby patrol of Huntsmen had forced them to travel much farther than they had initially planned.

Slowly removing her clothes, she hummed a happy tune as she stepped into the shower and turned the tap. She smiled blissfully as the hot water came down upon her in a steady stream; it had been so long since she had a shower, and it felt really good to wash away all the dirt and sweat on her body.

She spent a fair amount of time cleaning herself, and when she finally stepped out she felt very refreshed. Crossing the room, she opened the backpack and put on a large white shirt and a pair of shorts. She was about to make her way to the bed for some much needed sleep, but there was a knock at her door.

Letting out a huge groan at the disruption, which was uncharacteristic for her, she reluctantly moved to open the door. If it was one of the hotel attendants, she would ignore what he had to say and go straight to bed. If it was her guardian checking on her once again, she would wish him a good night and then shut the door in his face.

When she opened the door, already opening her mouth to ward off whoever was at the door, she came face to face with a man she had never seen before. He wore a dark coat with a long tail on the right side, and a collar with a larger left side. There was a Brassard on the left bicep of the coat, which also had blue, ornate scrollwork sewn into the left side of the upper back, and a blue lining. As he approached her, she noticed that his hands were covered by white gloves, and he had blue dress slacks, with black leather shoes.

Before she could ask him what he wanted, or say anything at all, his crimson eyes morphed and gained three comma marks in them instantly. She felt her body freeze up the moment she looked into those eyes, leaving her helpless as the man calmly and casually entered the room with a companion, a young woman who was smirking at her with bright amber eyes. The woman glanced at the man, the smirk still on her face, "I thought you said you needed to cut off feeling from her legs?"

Amber felt fear wash over her at the playfulness she heard in the woman's voice. How was this happening? No one should be after her unless they knew she was a Maiden, and that information had been a closely kept secret of the Guardians!

The man grabbed her comatose body and pushed her into a chair, one which was closest to the center of the room. "I have a better idea to make use of her," he replied to his companion, who had slipped on a white glove with a strange eye design on them.

She fought to move her body, struggling against the hold he had seized over her body, but her efforts were futile. She could not tap into her Aura or her powers as a Maiden, something which was making the situation even more terrifying for the young girl. Her fear must have shown in her eyes, as the companion leaned towards her with cruel satisfaction.

The gloved hand loomed over her face, obscuring most of her vision. Amber's fear damn near doubled when, in the center, an insectoid Grimm crawled out. There was a lull for a moment, before black tendrils latched unto her face.

* * *

As the last essence of the Maiden was sucked out and settled inside her body, Cinder held in a pleased moan. The entire process had taken roughly two minutes to complete, but the entire operation had gone off without any hitch.

She glanced at Naruto, who had stepped up to dying former Maiden. Her brows raised when he cleanly extended a bone blade and separated her head from her body. Placing the decapitated head on the lap of the body, he turned to face her. His eyes glowed even brighter in the darkness.

"Let's go. Qrow will be here soon."

* * *

 **A/N: I've had this idea ever since I started working on the next chapter of 'A Different Perspective', and the more I thought about it, the more I found myself enjoying what I had written.**

 **Now, first things first: do not expect any kind of consistent update schedule until May. My grades for last semester were very bad (I nearly lost my scholarship because my GPA was low), and so I've put a much greater emphasis on my schoolwork. This is why I have not been posting updates since December, and why I don't want you to expect updates soon.**

 **Secondly, this fic is dark. This Naruto is loosely based off the initial portrayal of Itachi, and I wanted the chapter to reflect that difference. When the idea first came to me, the line about Indra being proud of his uniqueness and power was another big part of Naruto's character. There is more to him, but these are the biggest things I wanted you all to know so that you can understand some of his actions.**

 **Finally, I've been toying around with a possible Naruto/Hyperdimension Neptunia fic for the past month, with the first chapter being ¾ done. It is based upon the latest game, Megadimension VII, but I was wondering if you would prefer one that takes place in the anime dimension. I plan on eventually having both versions as fics, but I just want to know which one you want first.**

 **Read and Review,**

 **MaelstromBankai.**


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